karinanovak

Prologue — The stag Baldur lay in bed under the beamed ceiling, wide awake, staring at the sky through the slanted window. A celestial display of violet and emerald lights danced above the cobbled streets of the sleeping town. The wind outside whispered familiar lullabies through the wide mouth of the fjord on the outskirts of town, and, in the sweet howl of the night, Baldur became aware of the shallow breaths inside his bedchamber that were not his own. "Hoder.” Baldur sat up, his pearl blond hair disheveled. He took a breath and bent down to look under his bed. A pair of azure-colored eyes gleamed at him from the darkness “What are you doing?" Baldur sat back. "Come out.” The youngling, only seven years of age with flowing golden locks, huffed and pulled himself out from under the bed. Baldur smirked at his little brother, standing before him in his linen night robes. They looked similar to each other, but, while Hoder's features were soft and delicate, Baldur already grew to full

Chapter One- Hate My parents always hated each other, right from the moment they met. Despite expectations of their surroundings, their hatred never blossomed into affection and mutual understanding; no, their view of each other did not change with time. Simply put, from clear disdain and obvious disgust, they slowly sank into a routine that seemed almost normal. I wouldn't call their relationship arranged, although some match making was afoot. I’ll only say that it was a marriage of convenience, not necessarily for the young couple. She was a bespectacled girl in an unfashionable dress, sitting embarrassed at the wedding table of a distant relative she did not know. He was a tall, thin boy with hands longer than his pockets. He stood to the side and kept trying to find a place to shove them into. Fresh from the service, after an over liberated youth, he had to find someone decent to settle down with. Her age was approaching twenty-eight, she had to find a nice respectable boy to